As usual, I ended up buying a zillion kilo chocolates. Pragati in the meantime, had picked up two bottles of liquor. When her turn came, the lady at the counter asked for her passport, and said something illegible. We stood there looking at each other bewildered. Thankfully, the pretty girl standing behind me in the queue came to our help:
Pretty Girl: “How old are you?”
Pragati: “xyz” (where xyz > 18. Am not sure whether I have the authority to mention her age here)
Pretty Girl: “They don’t sell alcohol if you are under-18”
There were three different expressions:
1. The lady at the counter looked shocked at hearing her age
2. I looked amused at the whole incident
3. Pragati had turned pink
“I can’t believe she actually thought I looked under-18!” she would later remark.
Words fail me…
There was another Douglas Store here, and Pragati had no intention to miss it. There we bumped into one of the store assistants who had helped us out at the store in Vaci ut on Friday. He was quite delighted to see us. And it was here that Pragati had her biggest adventure so far in Budapest – she forgot her wallet, with all the money, and all her cards. Thankfully she realized the same before boarding the train, and we rushed back to the store to claim it back.
Unfortunately, by the time we reached the camera store to buy a mini-tripod for my camera, they had closed. So we decided to shop for souvenirs, and headed for the Szt. Istevan Square. As expected, there were only a few shops open, and the remaining stores were downright expensive. I ended up buying a small bag from an exquisitely laid out shop. Balazs, the gentleman at the counter was delighted to know that we were from India, and professed that he was a big fan of Indian movies – he claimed to have the DVDs of “Haathi Mera Saathi” and “Love in Tokyo”, gifted to him by his Indian friend.
Budapest is a city of parks and gardens – like Bangalore, where we have Lal Bagh and all that. Somehow Pragati does not agree – not with the Budapest’s parks, but with Bangalore’s gardens. The classic Erszebeth tere with its huge fountain and the adjoining modern Deak Ferenc Tere is one such park where the youngsters gather to spend the evening. It seems like a structure that was created as part of some contest, since one can see a plaque proclaiming “Second Prize”. The place has a huge rectangular pool where you can just dip your feet into and relax. We were there to meet up with a colleague of ours for dinner at Salaam Bombay. Unfortunately, he never turned up.
For the naked eye, the imposing structure of the Museum of Fine Arts is perhaps dwarfed by the huge columns of Hosok Tere, or The Heroes Square. But once inside, you are completely transported to another world – the world of history and art. I spent more than half a day in the company of great artists like Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin and Eduard Manet. Pragati was quite impressed by the prices at Museum Shop. There’s going to be some change of plans for the next weekend. The Museum is situated in the corner of one of the biggest parks in Budapest – the City Park. Situated close to the museum is another imposing structure – the Szechernyi Gyorgifuerdo – the open air medicinal bath.
By the time it was evening, the Danube beckoned once more, and I spent the time till dusk, walking along the banks under the imposing Parliament building, and exploring the second oldest bridge on the Danube – the Margit Hid (the Margaret Bridge). There’s an Elizabeth and a Margaret. I wonder whether the bridges are related.
Pic of the day:
Shoes on the Danube – a memorial to the people who fell victim to the Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest. It depicts their shoes left behind on the bank when they fell into the river after having been shot during World War II.
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